Electronic access transactions are susceptible to fraud. For example, a credit card can be stolen or fabricated, and used in a fraudulent card-present transaction at a merchant even though the true owner of the card is not present at the merchant. In another example, a person's access badge may be stolen and an unauthorized person may attempt to enter a location where they would not be otherwise authorized to enter.
With regard to fraudulent payment transactions, it has been reported that merchants are losing over $190 billion dollars per year in credit card fraud. Further, the ability for unauthorized users to access locations or data where they are not authorized to do so can present safety and security risks.
Increased security can be provided by simply implementing more and more authentication procedures. However, this is not desirable, because implementing too many authentication procedures can deter legitimate users from conduct legitimate transactions. For example, requiring a user to remember multiple passwords to conduct a single transaction can be so frustrating to the user, that the user may not want to conduct that transaction at all.
Embodiments of the invention address this and other problems, individually and collectively.